Doubles play propels women's tennis in weekend wins

Before this weekend, the Miami women's tennis team hadn't lost a doubles point all season. The No. 6 North Carolina team had only lost three. 

But on Saturday, UNC coach Brian Kalbas  switched up his doubles lineup, pairing Ashley Dai  and Whitney Kay   at No. 2 doubles, while Caroline Price  and Laura Slater  matched up on court three.

Though Price and Slater eventually fell to Stephanie Wagner and Lina Lileikite 8-4 , a strong performance by Dai and Kay grabbed the Tar Heels an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles, clinching the doubles point for the team en route to a 5-2 win against Miami — the Hurricanes' first ACC loss of the season.

“Miami does a lot of unconventional things, and we tried to put combinations out there that could be more versatile to counter what they do well,” Kalbas said.

“The team bought in to what we were trying to do and No. 1 and No. 2 doubles did a great job of making them uncomfortable.”

On Sunday, Price and Kay returned to each other’s side in doubles play, dominating Florida State’s (11-9, 4-6 ACC) Mia Vriens and Daniela Schippers 8-1 . UNC beat the Seminoles 7-0. 

Kay and Price are currently the No.11 doubles pair in the country.

The freshman pair of Jamie Loeb and Hayley Carter , the No. 3 doubles tandem in the nation

, earned doubles wins against Miami’s No. 23 pair of Clementia Riobueno and Monique Albuquerque. And on Sunday, it was Florida State’s Daneika Borthwick and Kerrie Cartwright who fell prey to the freshmen phenoms.

The duo has been undefeated since the players switched sides in their match against Duke on March 2, where they defeated the then No. 4 pair of Beatrice Capra and Hanna Mar 8-6.

“Ever since we switched sides we’ve been playing our best tennis together,” Carter said. “It’s been great. We’ve been gelling and playing well, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Kalbas said the doubles play has come a long way from where it was at the beginning of the year.

“Early on in the season we were not gelling well. We’re working on doubles a lot, and it seems like it is finally paying off,” Kalbas said.

“All of our pairs want to be No. 1, and they’re all striving to do well on the national spotlight, especially with the NCAA’s coming up.”

Kay and Price are one of the duos who hopes to be in the NCAA Doubles Championship in May, and Price said that they are doing everything they can to get into the tournament.

“Jamie and Hayley have been playing really well, and they’ll probably get in it and hopefully we’ll be there too,” Price said.

“We’re just going to try to get even better and try and beat people as bad as we possibly can.”